CPL ‘took immediate action’ to address issues in Facebook documentary

Irish recruiter CPL Resources has moved to distance itself from criticism after a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary showed its staff being instructed not to remove extreme, abusive of graphic content from Facebook even when that content violated the social media company's guidelines.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon the company said that once it became aware of the programme it took immediate action to address the issues.

“On becoming aware of this programme we, in conjunction with Facebook, reviewed the issues being raised and took immediate action to address these.

“This has included refresher training conducted by Facebook personnel so as to ensure that our relevant employees remain up-to-date with Facebook policy and its implementation.

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“Ensuring that our employees are suitably qualified, trained and supported so as to deal with what is a demanding job is crucially important to us.”

It said it noted a number of the points raised regarding CPL Employees but that it values its partnership with Facebook.

Asked by The Irish Times how important the Facebook contract is and whether jobs were at risk the company declined to comment.

Asked the value of the contract, the company also declined to comment.

Listed on both the Dublin and London stock exchanges CPL is a professional recruitment company founded by its chief executive, Anne Heraty, in 1989.

In its early days it began by specialising in recruiting permanent and contract IT professionals in Ireland and now has four major divisions and counts multinationals including Pfizer, PWC, Facebook and Valeo Foods.

Its four “pillars” include recruitment, healthcare, leaning and development and outsourcing. For those divisions, the company operates 21 brands across 11 countries.

Ms Heraty, a former non-executive director of Anglo Irish Bank, controls CPL with her husband Paul Carroll, although his shareholding has reduced significantly. Together they own just under 35 per cent of the company while other investors in the top ten shareholder list include Axxion, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank.

In 2017, CPL recorded revenues of €455 million and profit before tax of €15.77 million. The company has a market capitalisation of €163 million and its shares have fallen 3.5 per cent so far this year.

Last year, with a cash position of €33.6 million, CPL elected to return €25 million to shareholders with Ms Heraty and her husband gaining just shy of €9 million.